Schoolcraft College

A day in life of Adjoa the pottery maker

Bonnie Hamilton
Ancient World History 134
Professor Kimberly Lark
August 8, 2016

Hamilton

My name is Adjoa and I am an 18-year-old female in the Bantu tribe. I live in a small hut
with my husband and two children. My husband is a leader of the tribe, who is very busy with
governing the community and making sure that everyones needs are met. I spend my time at the
hut making pottery and manning the fields. My children help me in the fields, harvesting the
crops and tilling the land. I start each morning in the field, checking on the crops as well as
feeding the livestock we have. I clean up after them, as well as milk the cattle to feed the young
ones. As a pottery maker in the Bantu tribe, it is my job to create a work of art that not only
depicts our culture and society but as well create an artifact that will be traded with other tribes
and play a role in our economy. After I finish my fieldwork, I spend some time gathering
sediment in preparation of pottery making; I then mix it with water. By doing this it becomes
sticky and easy to mold into my desired shape. I spend the rest of my morning sculpting the clay
into various warriors or water cisterns for community members. In Bantu culture, it is of upmost
importance to do things for others, not solely for yourself.
Music/dance and prayer consume the rest of my day. I spend a lot of timing speaking
with the elders because I enjoy learning about the religious symbolism and finding a way to
incorporate it into my pottery making. Music and dance is also a very important part of my day.
It is my way of expressing my thoughts as well as stories I have been told. Its also a way for the
men to depict what happens on their hunts. All the songs that encase my tribe are accounts of
what has happened in our past or what may happen in our future. Its how we relay knowledge to
our children and grandchildren.
Because my husband is an elder, I am treated in high regard. However, in the Bantu tribe,
everyone is treated very close to equal. The communal feeling within our culture is extremely
important. Being selfish and disrespectful to others is not tolerated. Therefore, whether you are a

Hamilton

miner or elder alike, your fellow community members treat you respectfully. Furthermore, Bantu
family lines are traced through the mother, however things are passed down through the father.
Therefore, it is my hope that my children inherit our land, and become elders in the tribe as well
to ensure its progression forward into the new age.